Volunteer Profile: Dr. James Breeden, M.D.

Each newsletter we will highlight a member of our dedicated staff or volunteer team. In this issue, we feature Dr. James H. Breeden, M.D. who has been a regular volunteer at the Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California since it first opened eight years ago.

Dr. Breeden is a graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine with residency at Harvard Affiliated Hospitals. He retired in 2009 after practicing for over 43 years. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, specializing in Hematology and Adult T-cell Leukemia-Lymphoma. 

For the past 25 years of his career, Dr. Breeden worked at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Oakland and Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Richmond. The Piedmont (CA) resident also spent three years providing patient care at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) which is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training, and part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“He is such a well-qualified individual,” said Dr. Vona Lorenzana, interim medical director at the Order of Malta Clinic. “You’re not going to get physicians with the caliber and credentials that Dr. Breeden brings to the table everywhere, so we’re privileged and blessed to have his services here at the clinic.”

“I initially began supervising the resident doctors from Oakland Kaiser who volunteered their time at the Order of Malta Clinic and quickly recognized the need to provide quality care for patients who suffered from chronic medical issues and were not able to pay for the care they required,” Breeden said. “I truly enjoy spending time at the clinic, and the physicians and volunteers there are such a terrific group to work with. We really get a chance to know our patients and I find they’re extremely appreciative of the care we give them.” 

Dr. Breeden is one of the many volunteer physicians, translators, administrators, and nurses who offer their time and expertise to over 2,500 uninsured patients a year in the Bay Area — making the Order of Malta Clinic one of California’s leading providers of healthcare to the area’s working poor.